In Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein, the creature is illustrated as a monster. The creature was a man made being composed of human body parts by Victor Frankenstein, rather than a God made creation. Throughout the novel, Victor dehumanizes the creature and rejects him as his own creation. Although he was Victor’s creation, the creature disgusts him as it does the rest of the community. The creature on the other hand is more like an adolescent as he searches for his identity, confused in what his purpose is in life. Although Victor and the rest of society see the creature as a monster, he is portrayed more like an innocent child. The creature is a lost being in search of a purpose, the reason as to why he was created. In his search, the creature begins to understand the process of learning as a child would in their early developmental stages. As like many, the power of knowledge will corrupt the soul, truly a modern Prometheus. For instance, the scene in which the creature comes across a fire, “one day, when I was oppressed by cold, I found a fire which had been left by some wandering beggars, and was overcome with delight at the warmth I experienced from it. In my joy I thrust my hand into the live embers, but quickly drew it out again with a cry of pain.” The creature experiences a fire for the first time and upon touching it, he learns that it burns. I can be said that the creature lost its sense of innocents, what he once knew was joy now becomes pain. Learning is no longer a place of confront, but rather pain. Although the creature is rejected and despised by society and seen as a monster, we see that in the beginning of chapter 12, the creature wants to be part of society and sign the social contract. He no longer wants to be what he is but rather, what is acceptable. It isn’t until the creature see’s a family through a window in a cabin that he yearns for companionship. The creatures purpose in life was nothing more than to have a companion.
The Catcher In The Rye by J.D Salinger, has similarities with Frankenstein in that both novels contain a protagonist searching for there calling in life. As the creature was rejected from society, so was Holden. Holden was a rebellious teen that was failing classes and getting into a physical conflict with his only friend placed him in a lonely situation imitating the creature’s life. Holden’s personality and acts throughout the novel portray him as a modern day monstrous teenager. Both characters start with nothing but a question; what I am doing? As Holden searches for his identity, he attempts to have his first drink in order to fit in with society and try new things much like the creature in Frankenstein. When Holden’s attempt fails, he becomes depressed. While at the bar, Holden tries to meet a girl to hook up with, but is rejected by three different girls so he resorts to hiring a prostitute. Not only does Holden remain a virgin after his encounter with the prostitute, but is also punched by her pimp and is left humiliated. Holden is viewed as a prick, a phony , and a**hole by society, where as the creature in Frankenstein is viewed as a monster. It seems that in both Frankenstein and The Catcher In The Rye, the creature and Holden want nothing more than to desperately conform to society, but both are rejected and unable to because of how society perceives them. The following day, Holden meet a nun at the bar, they had a brief conversation about how corrupted the world has became and left a donation. Later in the novel, Holden walked into a public school and saw the word “F***” on the wall, at this point he realized that he needs to be the catcher in the rye field, his purpose is to guide the innocent on to a straight path. Realizing his troubled past, hold feels the need to join society again.
I like that you are able to articulate how between the two examples we can see a common desperation to be a part of society. My concern here is that you are a little all over with your comparison. Especially when you get to Catcher in the Rye, you give a lot of plot summary as opposed to narrowing in one specific moment or line of the text. I am interested in your focusing on the fire scene with Frankenstein. I am still not sure if that moment of learning that the same thing that gives warmth can cause pain is a loss of innocence (though perhaps it is a foreshadowing of soon-to-come loss of innocence), but I think it’s a compelling scene about learning how the world works materially and also philosophically. It would have been nice if you could have found a more comparable moment in The Catcher in the Rye to compare it to.